Picking a Class

Picking a class is probably the most important choice you will make at first as it will dictate how you first view the game. Blade and Soul is a game heavily balanced around PvP so you may have mixed variance in PvE play, but all classes are usually on equal footing. Do not worry about picking a “weak” or “underpowered” class, Blade and Soul take Its balancing seriously. Pick a class that has a play style that you like most and have at it!

Keys and Unbinding

It is better to save your keys and unsealing charms for when you need them. When you first start out it might seem nice to unlock and unseal everything, but most of the time you don’t need to unseal it. Use sealed weapons and items to upgrade your equipment or salvage for parts. Unwanted soul shield pieces can be salvaged while sealed. Later on Keys and unsealing charms become easier to aquire, but if you don’t need to open it, rather not waste it. There are many players that run out of keys trying to get their Deva weapons because they used them earlier.

How Item Progression Works

One of the things Blade and Soul does differently than other MMOs is that you will most likely be holding onto your Hongmoon weapon/accessories and feed it other items to power it up. Every 5 upgrade levels it will require a specific item to evolve and unlock the next levels. For your first unlocks, it is recommended to just purchase the items needed to evolve your equipment as it is much easier to run out of keys and unsealing charms while grinding for them. If you come across any tradable evolution item you don’t need, you can sell it to the auction house for a quick influx of coin.

Hongmoon Weapon / Accessory Evolving

Picking Your Jobs

While the various jobs do have their purpose, unfortunately (at the time of this writing,) there really are 2 main manufacturing and 2 main gathering jobs that are relevant for most of the game. Soul warden and Merry Potters for your manufacutirng jobs and The Tree Fellers and Green Thumbs for your gathering jobs. Things may change down the line but for your first character, these jobs will help you make some extra money on the side.

Inventory Management

Although it might look like you have a bunch of inventory spaces, you will find that they get filled really quickly, even if you aren’t trying. Dragon Pouches are also rare. You do get some of them from the main story quest line, but keep an eye out for events that give them away. As a general rule of thumb, if you are unsure, salvage it and sell chests you aren’t going to open. PVP outfits, shop items, or collectables stay in the “Bank”. The bank has Primary and Secondary slots, The primary slots can hold every type of item, but the secondary slots are limited in the item types it can hold.

Soul Shield (Bopae)

Although not super important at first, it is important that you learn how these work and what the bonuses for the various sets are. Your first set should probably come from the spinning the first wheel of fate with tokens from the Jiangshi world boss that spawns there. Once you get a full set of pieces equipped from there, feel free to proceed and upgrade your shield as you see fit. If you are lazy, your initial shield will last you to the Cinderlands where you can repeat the process with the Deva world boss there. Feel free to build your shield as you go depending on your sort of build. (Some sets focus on crit, some focus on defense…. Etc)

Later on you will be enhancing your Soul Shield by feeding it lesser soul shield pieces, but save that for later and just keep salvaging unwanted Soul Shield pieces for fusion powder.

Complete Deva Soul Shield

Cross-Server Partying

Probably one of my favorite aspects of Blade and Soul. Since there are no healer classes or strict roles, when you hit the appropriate level, you can just hit F7 and be whisked away to the “Cross Server” dungeon. Just pick what dungeon you want to do, pick party size, it will find you a party and it will port you to a platform with a Merchant, a Dragon Bank keeper, and thankfully, the person with the daily quest for that dungeon. I’ve never had to wait more than a minute except for low population times.

Dalies

This leads us right into our next topic, Dailies. Always do your dailies, especially early on. When you unlock the daily dungeon quests, make sure you do each of these at least once each day until you no longer feel the need to do it. The daily chests from the dungeons contain useful items for progression and crafting, ie Viridian Poison. Some of the items themselves sell pretty well on the auction house too. The Cross Server dungeon described above helps you knock these our really quickly and with ease.

Repair

One common mistake that many early newbies do is that they try to always keep their weapon at 100%. Your weapon actually doesn’t lose any stats until it reaches 0 durability; it always good to repair your weapon at around 5-10% or so to avoid getting caught with no weapon when it hits 0. Field repair tools are expensive, stick to basic repair tools and fireplaces to save you some money. Whenever your hit points reach 0, your weapon will take a large hit in durability (Even if you do Chi Recover, you still take a durability hit.)

Daily Dash Spin

Dash Spin is very important for getting premium items or expensive items for free. You get 2 per day and your spins have a 1 hour cooldown. Who can say no to free items? If you have premium membership, then you get 3 spins. The wheel does have periods where it will change, and the prizes with it will change too. When these changes occur, your progress will be lost, so don't miss out on the grand prize before its too late!

The video above is an awesome source of information if you are looking for an optimal start.

If you find any information that is incorrect, please let me know!

Have a great day and keep going cricket!

How do you feel is the difficulty of starting out?

Check Out My Other Blade And Soul Articles!

What is Blade and Soul? A Brief Overview.NCSoft’s Blade and Soul is a free to play Wuixia inspired Korean action MMORPG with a PVP focus. Here is a brief overview and explanation of the game, its classes and other information.

Blade and Soul PvE and PVP Combat TipsCombat in blade and Soul has many facets and is highly customization. Here are some Tips and Tricks to keep your head in the game. These apply for both PVE, PVP combat and newbies in general.